alfei said:
In any event, it appears my entire system is running off the 12V1 rail
which is limited to 8amps! Is that possible??
No, it is not. The small and medium sized PSU's have a single 12 volt output that is split into two "virtual" rails. If you use an ohmmeter to measure from
any yellow wire (12 volt) to any other, you will read a short circuit.
alfei said:
As a potential solution, I was thinking of modding the power supply
connectors and replacing the 12v pin of the 20pin main power connector,
with the one from the 4-pin 12v aux connector drawing from 12V2.
Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance!
Yes. Don't do it. It's a complete waste of time.
If this is the original PSU, there's a good chance that it has degraded over the years and is no longer putting out its rated power.
If you are planning to upgrade to a modern PC with one video card, get one of these:
Corsair 550VX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
and move it to your new system when you build it.
Otherwise, get one of these:
Corsair 400CX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...